Luke Nicholson, MD
Hand Surgery · Los Angeles, CANPI 1558771576
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (29.5%), consulting fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 16 manufacturers reported payments, led by Stryker at 37.3% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $68,925, more than ten times the $559 reported in 2019. Among hand surgery clinicians in CA with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 156 payments — averaging $749.35 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$44K
- Skeletal Dynamics Inc$35K
- Integra Lifesciences Corporation$13K
- Trimed, Inc.$12K
- Medartis Inc.$10K
- Acumed LLC$1K
- plus $3K from 10 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$30,90026%
- Speaking & faculty fees$21,16918%
- Travel & lodging$25,39922%
- Food & beverage$4,9144%
- Education$34,51630%
General payments by program year
Who reported the general payments
Companies are grouped under their corporate parent — a single manufacturer often files under several CMS reporting entities. Research and ownership payments are counted separately and are not in this table.
| Company | Payments | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Stryker | 59 | $43,584 |
| Skeletal Dynamics Inc | 20 | $34,972 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 19 | $12,743 |
| Trimed, Inc. | 25 | $11,867 |
| Medartis Inc. | 6 | $9,693 |
| Acumed LLC | 13 | $1,362 |
| Saxum Surgical, Inc. | 1 | $1,200 |
| Micromed Inc | 2 | $948 |
| Axogen | 3 | $254 |
| Checkpoint Surgical, Inc | 1 | $109 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $49 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2 | $34 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $26 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $24 |
| Ensemble Orthopedics, Inc | 1 | $18 |
| Bone Support Inc. | 1 | $15 |
What the payments were tied to
Products named in the reported payments. Only payments of $100 or more are attributed here — the typical reported payment nationally is a meal worth about $16, and listing those product-by-product would be noise.
- Geminus$34,635
- Align$34,635
- IJS$34,635
- Implate$34,635
- VARIAX$25,357
- AXSOS$12,200
- T2$11,600
- TENOGLIDE$11,142
- NEURAGEN$11,142
- APTUS$9,584
- PRO$8,044
- PANGEA$6,465
- Tools - AFS$5,129
- Tools - WFS$5,113
- GAMMA$2,200
- T2 ALPHA$1,600
- ACUMED$1,267
- INnate Implant$986
- InFrame Implant$855
- NanoPhix Implant$855
How this compares
$116,898 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 249 hand surgery providers in California.
Medicare billing
What this is not: this is the amount Original Medicare Part B allowed for services this provider billed in 2024. It is not their income. It excludes Medicare Advantage — now more than half of all Medicare enrollment — along with Medicaid and all commercial insurance, and it is gross practice revenue before staff, rent, supplies and malpractice premiums. CMS also suppresses any figure covering ten or fewer patients, so low-volume providers appear smaller than they are.
Other hand surgery in Los Angeles
- Steven ShinLos Angeles$2.8M
- Prosper BenhaimLos Angeles$492K
- Raymond RavenLos Angeles$310K
- Ryan DellamaggioraLos Angeles$61K
- Eugene TsaiLos Angeles$26K
- Ali AzadLos Angeles$19K
- Milan StevanovicLos Angeles$14K
- Neil JonesLos Angeles$9K
- Amy LaddStanford$1.4M
- Emilie CheungStanford$1.1M
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Billing: Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, data year 2024. Original Medicare Part B only.
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.